Satellite Pictures Seen of Hizbullah Base on Syrian Soil

The London Times reports seeing satellite pictures of an arms depot and Hizbullah terrorist compound north of Damascus.

By Rachel Sylvetsky

First Publish: 5/28/2010, 4:20 PM / Last Update: 5/28/2010, 3:47 PM

Hizbullah terrorists are running weapons to Lebanon from secret arms depots in Syria where the terrorists have been accorded their own living quarters, arms storage site and a fleet of trucks, according to the London Times, which claims to HIzbullah is allowed to operate this site freely.have been shown satellite images of one of the compounds. It is said to be situated near the town of Adra, northeast of Damascus. Israeli TV's second channel reported that P.M. Netanyahu spoke about the base in a conversation with Italian President Berloscuni.

The Times quoted a security source, who said, "HIzbullah is allowed to operate this site freely. They often move the arms in bad weather when Israeli satellites are unable to track them." The weapons come from Syria itself or are sent from Iran by air or sea.

This is the first proof of Hizbullah guerillas encamping on Syrian soil, leading to fears that if there is another clash between Israel and Hizbullah, Syria could immediately become involved.

Israel reportedly had wanted to bomb one of the arms transfers but yielded to U.S. pressure to rely on its diplomatic efforts to stop the arms flow. These have been unsuccessful, although John Kerry, the head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with Syrian President Bassar Assad in Damascus in April and discussed arms and Scud missile transfers from Syria to the Hizbullah. Syria denied the transfer, but Western diplomatic sources said that Syria is "flat out lying".

The Times turned to the Syrian Embassy spokesman in London, Jihad Makdissi, who insisted that all military sites in Syria were exclusive to the Syrian military. "If these military depots really exist it would be for the exclusive use of the Syrian army to defend Syrian soil [from Israel], and it is definitely nobody's business."

IDF Intelligence Officer, Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, told the Knesset recently that even without the Scud transfers, which he called the 'tip of the iceberg', Hizbullah's arsenal contains rockets of all kinds in numbers that exceed by far their arsenal before the last war with Israel. Weapons transfers from Syria had passed the stage of 'smuggling' and were 'organized and official', he said. (For INN's coverage of his report, click here.)

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006, banned the rearming of Hizbullah, but has been totally ignored by the terrorist group and its allies.